Paper Mario: The Radiance Force
Paper Mario: The Radiance Force is a Paper Mario game developed by Pyro Enterprises, acting as both a sequel to their debut hit Paper Mario 5: The Rise of Shadow and as a game semi-inspired by Paper Mario: Color Splash, incorporationg many of its attributes. The game follows Mario and Peach exploring the Paintcraft Archipelago, a chain of islands filled with natural paint deposits, and joining the battle between the island's protectors, the titular Radiance Force, and their nemesis Lord Inkwell. Story Prologue The story begins with Mario waking up inside a bedroom, seemingly inside a cruise ship. The portly plumber seems to be snoozing away peacefully, but is soon woken up by a loud shout from outside the door. Toad walks in, telling the surprised Mario that the cruise to the Paintbrush Archipelago is nearing its destination, and that the princess was seeking him on deck. Jumping out of bed, Mario obliged. On the bridge of the cruise ship, Mario approached the beautiful Princess Peach, all decked out in her vacation getup. The princess had organized the trip to the Paintbrush Archipelago in order to both thank Mario for his years of assistance as well as get everybody's minds off of the recent events in the town of Flipside. Princess Peach thanked Mario for coming along for the tropical break, but told him that it was, in fact, a break- she didn't want him going off and saving the world yet again. Suddenly, a familiar gruff voice rang out from the sky, and the all-too-familiar face of Bowser the Koopa King swooped down, riding in his hovering Clown Car. The giant lizard hopped out of the small vehicle, and approached the princess with his arms wide and a huge smile on his face. When Peach asked him what in the world he was doing on the ship, he simply replied that he was actually going on vacation with his son, Bowser Jr., as well, and that the tropical paradise of the Paintbrush Archipelago was a perfect location for the wedding that the princess had promised him during their last adventure. While the princess attempted to explain that in no way was that marriage legally binding or consensual, Bowser was having none of it, and Mario was forced to battle him off of the ship. Bowser swore vengeance on Mario as he flew away from the cruise ship; unfortunately for him, the Clown Car happened to run out of fuel mid-speech, and he plummeted into the ocean. Mario went to make sure that Peach was alright, and she claimed to be perfectly fine; she wasn't about to let Bowser spoil their vacation. Toad yelled towards the both of them, saying that the port of Curoma Plaza was in sight and that they would be arriving soon. Spirits were high as the vacation was about to begin... Meanwhile, Bowser was floating in the powerless Clown Car, calling his son to come to his location and bring a spare load of gas. Closing the phone, he grumbled to himself, vowing to make sure that Mario and Peach stayed out of his mind and that he fully enjoyed his stay on the island. He then noticed a portion of the water turning dark violet, and a small squid-like creature popped out. Bowser attempted to say hi, but the squid simply squirted him with the same inky substances, diving back into the water and swimming towards land. Even more mad, Bowser called Bowser Jr. again, telling him to bring a few towels as well. When the cruise ship finally pulled up to the dock, Mario and Peach grabbed their luggage (Mario's being limited to a hammer and Peach's needing three Toads to help carry) and disembarked, excited to finally have their vacation. To their surprise, however, the plaza seemed to be mostly empty. Wondering where everybody could have gone, Mario walked around the plaza for a bit while Peach checked into the inn. His search seemed in vain, until he found a suspicious trail of dark purple ink leading into a Warp Pipe; he hopped in and entered the sewers. Mario searched and searched around the sewers, following the trail of ink until he came to a wide circular room. In the center of the room, he saw two purple squid-like creatures dripping with the purple ink, their stubby arms fighting over a small paintbrush-like creature, crying out for help. Mario ran up to the squids, hammering one on the head. The creature was understandably ticked off, and a fight began. The squids vanished in typical enemy fashion after being beaten, and the paintbrush-like creature tentatively approached Mario. The red-garbed plumber introduced himself, but she didn't seem to know who Mario was exactly. When Mario explained that he was a bit of a world-saving hero, she still stated that she had no idea who he was, but that heroes were definitely a thing she could get behind. Mario asked the girl what had happened to the townspeople; she told Mario that she could show him why everyone was in hiding, and floated off towards a hallway nearby, but not before introducing herself as Cel. Cel lead Mario to a tunnel that led out of the sewers, directing Mario's attention to a poster on the wall. The poster depicted a group of people of various species, but all dressed in matching colorful uniforms, and the leader in red holding a paintbrush remarkably like Cel towards the sky. Cel explained to Mario that these people were the superhero team known as the Radiance Force, and that she was the living source of the group's power. The Radiance Force protected the archipelago from any and all threats, and so the people had come to rely on them... but now a malevolent force had kidnapped all the members of the group, and had nearly killed her in an attempt to prevent them from ever regaining power. Mario decided to go against what Peach had told him and told Cel that he would do everything in his power to help rescue the missing members of the Radiance Force. Back in the plaza, Mario noticed that some of the locals had started to come out of their homes, curious as to what the cruise ship's arrival entailed. When they checked at the inn, they found Princess Peach being informed of the town's troubles by an elderly Pianta, seemingly having been caught up to what Mario had been told by Cel. Mario raised his hand to tell the princess that he would have to take a break from his break as the archipelago seemed to be in need, but she promptly stopped him, telling him that she wasn't aware anything would've actually gone wrong during the trip, and that saving the region was more important- but he would have to actually take the vacation once he was done. With that settled, Mario followed Cel towards Rose Ridge, a canyon where she saw one of the members of the Radiance Force being taken. Meanwhile, in a strange location that seemed devoid of all color, another small squid creature waddled around, seemingly looking for something. An eerie voice echoed out through the room, as a puddle of the deep purple substance that the other squids had been spewing moved slowly towards it. The voice congratulated the squid-like creature, calling it a "Squiddle", on capturing the final and most important member of the Radiance Force; the magical Paint Fairy that powered the entire team. Sheepishly, the Squiddle chattered away in a distorted voice, the gist of the message being that the target had been saved by a plumber clad in red. Outraged, the puddle of ink rose up, transforming into a menacing pen-shaped being in ebony armor. The monster grabbed the Squiddle and crushed it, melting it into ink and absorbing it. He berated himself for only sending the Squiddles to take on the most crucial target of all, and that now his entire plan was in jeopardy... He vowed that no matter what, Lord Inkwell would finally vanquish the Radiance Force as well as the new red-garbed plumber. Chapter 1: Raging Riots on Rose Ridge Cel informed Mario that the only member of the Radiance Force that she had seen being captured had been taken to Rose Ridge, which was peaceful enough that they shouldn't need to worry about much save the Squiddles. However, her demeanor changed quickly upon Mario heading down Garnet Gardens, the grassy trail leading to the canyon; patches of the area had been covered in the ink of the squid-like entities, and the world was warping and corroding due to overexposure to whatever toxin was within. Concerned for the environment's well-being and color, Cel decided to let Mario learn of a method that could be used to restore the inked areas. She lept into Mario's hands and the plumber swung her forward like a hammer, spewing a massive glob of paint forward and erasing the ink. Mario and Cel eventually made their way to Crimstone Village, a small hamlet located at the very edge of Garnet Gardens; the place where Rose Ridge turned to desert. Things looked even worse here- the village was an active warzone, with the village inhabitants battling against a horde of Squiddles with whatever they could get their hands on. It as unfortunately a losing battle, so Mario and Cel jumped in immediately. Mario and Cel fought vigorously, and a strange voice soon called for a retreat. The signal to flee came from a short figure riding on a small mechanical wheeled device made of purple and black metal; it was a short figure wearing a bird-like mask and a heavy cape made out of dark-colored feathers. He wheeled closer to Mario, looking him square in the eye before pressing a button to raise his platform up, making himself seem taller. Introducing himself as Sergeant Mocrow, he told Mario to give up his fight immediately, lest he face the full wrath of the Squiddle army. Threatening the plumber that he would return and destroy the whole of Crimstone Village, he carted off as the Squiddles marched away, smacking his head on a wooden beam before realizing he hadn't lowered his vehicle's height; he fled the scene after exclaiming that nobody had seen anything. Mario and Cel confronted the mayor of Crimstone Village, an old Boomerang Bro with glasses and a boomerang-cane. He introduced himself as Mayor Redmont, the 164-year-old leader of the village, and thanked Mario for his assistance. When Cel asked what was up, Redmont replied that Mocrow had been leading sieges against the village for weeks, even convincing some of the villagers to join their cause. Most notably, Redmont stated that his granddaughter, Glycera, had joined some elite squad for Bob-ombs that went by the name of the "Black Ash Squadron". When Mario asked why his granddaughter was a Bob-omb, Redmont went on a long spiel about his family heritage and how his son was a Nokobon. Eventually, Mario and Cel decided now would be an opportune time to strike back against Mocrow's forces and find the missing Radiance Force member. Redmont agreed, and joined Mario to find Glycera. Redmont joined your party! Mario and his group left Crimstone Village and went down the river; it'd been filled with and corrupted by the toxic inky substance, and the very landscape was messed up by it. Heading down the river bank and making his way past multiple Squiddle barricades, the three eventually came across a medium-sized building built into the base of the waterfall, a giant faucet excreting the ink into the water. Mario walked up to the door, knocking on it gently, and the door opened immediately. As Cel pointed out that it seemed awfully easy to enter the base, an alarm went off as a rather small net was ineffectively thrown over their heads. Mario easily removed the net, but was immediately thrown back by an explosion of some sort. Dusting himself off, he noticed a group of figures coming from the shadows; Bob-ombs, dressed in stylish uniforms and goggles, their fuses burning with purple smoke. Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 0 Gameplay Radiance Force's gameplay is almost identical to that of Paper Mario 64, The Thousand-Year Door, and The Rise of Shadow. While most of the base code comes from the GCN game, partners retain their alterations from TRoS, and Mario regains the Spin Dash ability from the N64 title, though he must now unlock it in an early chapter. In addition, certain attacks in both Mario and his partner's arsenal are listed as Painted Attacks, and are listed with a specific colored text. When one of these attacks is used on an enemy of the same color, paint of that color bursts out, dealing slightly more damage and adding an additional effect. Painted Attacks can also affect enemies of different colors by changing their color; for example, hitting a red enemy with a yellow Painted Attack will turn them orange. This can be used strategically to make enemies weak to moves they otherwise wouldn't be, but has limitations; using Painted Attacks in battle or regular paint in the overworld uses up the group's Paint Points, or PP, similarly to Color Splash. In addition, black metallic enemies are completely immune to color-changing effects. Stances A new gameplay mechanic is Partner Stances. Each partner has four different stances that they can swap between in the Menu, and this impacts their stats and some of their abilities. Mario is only able to have his partners in Stance 1 at first, but can unlock Stances 2, 3''', and '''4 by obtaining a Stance Stone and bringing it to Merlon in Curoma Plaza. Paralogue Gameplay Like most Paper Mario games, mini-chapters known as Paralogues will fill the space between chapters, giving insight into other characters' parts of the story. In Radiance Force, there are two types of playable Paralogues; Peach and Luigi Paralogues. Characters Playable This section includes Mario and his variety of partners. Unknown *A small black and purple Shy Guy-like creature wearing a feathered cape and a bird-like mask. *Small flower-like creatures. NPCs. *Merlon-like wizard holding a 3D metallic cube. *Female character resembling Princess Peach with a primarily purple and black motif. Locations Category:Fan Games Category:Paper Games Category:Pyro Enterprizes Category:Pyrohedron Games Category:Mario (series) Category:Mario Games Category:Paper Mario (series) Category:Pyro's Nintenverse Category:Role-Playing Games Category:Action Games